June Read Along

You all know that I participated in this book, right?
Well, its not too late to get involved with the June Read Along. You can click here to find out more and join Sheri's salon (its free). Even though I'm in the book, I haven't had a chance to read it cover to cover. And I can't think of anything more cool than to do it along with Sheri!!! Yippppppeee!

Weekend update

I drove to Louisville and back on Thurs/Fri to deliver paintings. My friend Marilyn helped me - she and I met the collector and her husband Thursday afternoon to preview and try a variety of works around their house. They bought a 40x40; a 30x40 and a 24x24. Yippee! The paintings looked amazing in their fabulous home - oh my, it was one of those dream experiences where I kept pinching myself that my work would hang in such a location. I want to go back at some point and get some photos.

The drive over was rainrainrain and the drive home was all road repairs, ugh, so frustrating it took me forever to get home. I arrived back here at 3pm and had to be at Chesterfield Arts at 4 for the Studio Night activities during which I hosted a SNL type "Deep Thoughts with Mary Beth Shaw", a visual version of course. I had a huge, wall size board and I traced outlines of people on it, then decorated with symbols, words, quotes, etc. I was in a classroom with 3 other artists who had other activity stations, so we had an energetic crew. So much fun! I will say I was disappointed in the turnout, I mean this was a great community event (free, mind you!) yet attendance was fairly sparse. I soooo want the arts to succeed and thrive in our area yet it seems a challenge at times. I will say the children (and their parents) who *did* come were absolutely delightful and really GET IT!!! Hooray for that!

Tonight is the MO Coalition for the Environment fundraiser and I have 2 tickets. THE PLAN was for John and me to attend then I was going to treat my honey to a night on the town with a dinner celebrating my recent art success. But the Universe has intervened because my ankle is swollen to the point I can't stand well. I have no idea what I did to it, but an art event standing around all night is definitely out of the question. Seems like I will stay home instead, with a bag of frozen peas as my companion. And now my sweetie is pampering me(!) - at this moment he has run to Whole Foods to find some nice fish for dinner.

My Life: A Play in One Act

CHARACTERS, in order of Appearance:

#1 - Character offstage, never seen, his snoring sounds are heard through out

#2 - Raging housewife, suffering from insomnia

#3 and #4 - 2 cats

ACT I takes place in a Midwestern suburban home. It is dark, a rainy night. Scene opens on the 2nd floor of the house, in a U-shaped hallway which looks out onto the 2 story foyer and stairwell with two landings. 4:15 am

CHARACTER #1: guttural snoring sounds emanate from an unseen location

CHARACTER #2:
[crazed woman in nightgown emerges from a room, wielding a large spray bottle, she is shouting in a forced whisper]
"You guys, I've had eeeeeennnnnnuuuuufffff!" )as she starts wildly spraying a stream of water at 2 startled cats wrestling on the floor.

CHARACTER #3 and 4:
Cats scatter, one leaping off the top landing to a lower space, one taking the stairs. Both disappear.

CHARACTER #2: woman walks to rail to see if cats have gone and/or are still alive, spray bottle hangs in her limp arm. [her movement triggers the sensor from across the street neighbor's flood light and the area is suddenly illuminated to reveal her haggard face.]

"long sigh......" and she returns to the room from which she emerged.

The End

Jasper Johns

Lovely photo courtesy of Bud .

Ok, not that Jasper Johns, I am talking about our newest kitty. Named in honor of one of my favorite artists (swoon) and his "Gray" series.



Jasper is about a year old, rescued from a kill shelter over near KC. I found him through the Maine Coon Rescue group, although I doubt he is full MC - who knows and really, who cares, because we already just l-o-v-e him. He is shaking up our household in a big way. Izzy and Gilligan have been shocked out of their geriatric grief and are sitting up taking notice. Gil is playing with toys again (yippee) and Izzy has ventured off the couch to come upstairs every day since Jasper's arrival, this from a cat who normally only leaves her bed to eat and potty. And the peoples are laughing out loud at the antics of this wild man who quietly entered our life to unleash his playful personality, pounce on our bed crawl right into our hearts.

Honestly, its day 3 and I am stunned at how well it is all going.

eARThworks Art Auction

Click on over to eARThworks to see the auction items for the MO Coalition for the Environment. There is a lot of really cool stuff. You can scroll through the items and click on each one for a close-up and information about the artist. You can check out my donation too. The Auction ends with a Gala on Saturday, May 30th if you're local and wish to attend. You can buy tickets at the website.

Earring mania

I've been an earring piggy lately.
Can.not.help.myself.
I get a little bit of money in my hands (can you say award?) and whoosh, I'm off.....luckily my habit is not too expensive as I tend to prefer fun vs. precious metal and stones.
Anyhoo, here are some of the fabulous things I have gotten in recent days/weeks/months.



The ones at the very top, the elongated ones, are from Greg & BJ Jordan - they were mix and match, which was fun - you can find their website here.
The silver ones with the labradorite stones are by Phyllis, a silversmith from Louisville, KY. I am kicking myself because I can't find her card. She had a booth next to me at Cherokee Triangle and I loved both her and her hubby as they were easy going (and funny!) neighbors. Not to mention they didn't laugh at me when I put my canopy on inside out.
The credit card earrings are by Lisa Vetter of The Art Farm. Can you spell f-u-n-k-y? I love them, especially the fact they say "chase" which makes me smile.
And finally, the birds. They were made by Catherine Witherell of Happy Day Art. She's a friend of mine from Artfest. She actually made them for someone else and I whined until she made me a pair (didn't really have to whine at all as she is too sweet).
Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed the accessory show this morning.

Springfield Old Capitol 2009

Springfield Old Capitol

What a terrific show and I am not saying that just because I got a prize for "Outstanding Newcomer", although that made it extra nice. It was a great show because the people are super friendly; the show is well run; and the community supports the artists.

I was happy to be there, even though it was a little chilly (that being an understatement, on Saturday it was freeze-your-butt-chilly with a brutal wind to boot) and I found I had packed all the wrong clothes, I swear I am going to start packing fleece no matter what the weather forecast. It was so bad that I wore the same pair of socks three days in a row.

I shot a video that gives you a flavor of the show. It would be nice if I could embed it here, however, I've been working on this for awhile and Mr. Blogger is being a pain in the you know what today, arggghhhh. You can click here to see it on YouTube.

I also met some new artists, including the delightful, Corrine Smith and her hubby Steve. Corrine is also a mixed media abstract person and I lovelovelove her work. You can check it out here.

Momma said there'd be days like this

We arrived in Springfield, IL about 4pm with hopes of a leisurely set up followed by a short rest in the hotel and then a nice dinner. Instead, we hung out in a sleazy pizza joint with a bunch of other artists, drinking beer and watching the horrific weather. Just one storm after another - scary looking stuff, swirling black and gray clouds and high winds. Yuck. We were under a tornado watch (and still are) plus predictions of further storms (yep), high winds (yep) and hail (yep).

Everyone concluded that it would be safer to set up in the morning before the show. Meaning, we now need to get up around 4 am in order to stalk a parking space, schlep all our stuff to our spot, set up and be ready when the show opens. Not to mention I will then have to actually work the show all day long. I predict lots of coffee in my future.

Oh yes, what a glamorous life I lead. I am soooooo glad John is here to help me; thank goodness for that!

Springfield Old Capitol

I've had a busy week getting ready for the show in Springfield, IL.
If you're in the area, come see me.

This is the first time I have done this show and I committed to make items for children. That sort of caused me to re-invent the wheel to some extent (knocking myself out thinking of what "abstract works" children might like) and I came up with these small pieces. I even liked them myself (imagine that!). So then I made more of them to actually sell in my booth.

Here are a few examples.
They are very reasonably priced and will hopefully do well in this economy. Whatever that means?!?!?

I have found that folks have money when they want to have money.

Everyone is basically just like me in that they will find money for the things that are important to them.
Like art books.
Oh, sorry, maybe that's just me.

But I think you know what I mean. And sure, I have cut my budget in a variety of ways. Like I do a lot of my own grooming (cutting back on pedicures). And I clean my own house. Don't eat out as much. And don't buy expensive shampoo anymore.
But God forbid I would cut my book budget. Or let my hairdresser go. A girl's gotta have her standards.

Come see me this weekend at the Springfield Old Capitol Art Fair. I'll be in booth 129.

Collage Commission

You all know I love making commissions for people, I have talked about this before. I realize that some artists find if difficult (which it is) but I feel honored when someone allows me this privilege. Here is one that the hubby ordered as a Mother's Day gift for his wife.

Lots of magical synchronicity in the piece and I love it when that happens. Hope the Mom enjoyed it.

Squam Art Workshops

Woo Hoo, Squam here I come.
In case you didn't know, I will be teaching several classes at Squam this year, in the September session. I can not wait. Watch this video and you will see what I mean. Oooh la la.
There is a link in the sidebar that will take you directly to their site.
Come play with us!!

In memory of Merlyn

We said goodbye to Merlyn today. In the last few days his condition deteriorated significantly and we simply could not bear for him to suffer.

In my humble opinion, he was the cat of all cats, kind of our soul cat if you can imagine such a creature. Not to minimize our affection for Izzy and Gil, but Merlyn truly seemed to get us and offered an unconditional loving nature that I have never before seen in a cat.

We will miss him terribly.

Along for the ride

My friend Beth wrote about the roller coaster ride of life this morning on her blog and I'll tell ya, I can relate because it has pretty much been like this my whole existance. I remember telling John (on our first date if you can imagine), "it's a roller coaster baby, you need to understand that..." Yee gads its a miracle I didn't scare the man off.

These days, for me, its more like this kinetic sculpture I saw outside a restaurant on the Olympic Penninsula. I cannot remember where on earth we were (slaps self in head) but I was mesmerized and oddly felt as though I wanted to be within the art. It would rotate with grace in one direction then a breeze would move it in another direction all within an instant. Calm would come and allow just the tiniest of vibration - a mere sensation of movement or not, was it moving at all? Then suddenly a gust would cause it to spin.

Yet all was beautiful, order somehow maintained in the midst. I guess that's what I aspire to - when I grow up, I want to be this sculpture. Order and balance in the midst of a wildly changing and somewhat uncontrolled environment.

Art saves me.